Paul's letter was to be taken to Corinth by Titus and another brother (2 Corinthians 8:17-18). Their task was to encourage the Corinthians to give money to help the impoverished church in Jerusalem (Romans 15:26). The apostle wanted to avoid any criticism of the way they administered the gift and so sent two most respected leaders to travel together with the gift (2 Corinthians 8:20-21).

But cynical people might have thought that two men could have been in league with each other to take some of the gift for themselves. So, Paul sent another man, also known to the church; another leader whose godly life was matched by his confidence that the church in Corinth would receive Paul's encouragement to give, and would fulfil the promise they had made over a year previously (2 Corinthians 8:6).

All three men were honoured representatives of other churches, and of the Lord. Paul therefore appealed to the Corinthians to show the delegation how much they loved the Lord by being willing to give to far-away believers they might never meet in this life. Their love-gift would also be an example to other churches.

This example of apostolic integrity is a challenge to every believer and every church handling money or possessions on behalf of others. The temptation to use God's good gifts to satisfy our own selfish desires is very great for some people and surprisingly strong for some other people you might not expect to be tempted. Likewise, although many believers are trusting, some are instinctively suspicious of other people's motives. So, transparency is essential, even putting in place procedures which might be thought unnecessary to ensure that everybody can have confidence in how money is administrated. Then the churches can give with confidence, and members can grow spiritually as they learn the grace of giving (2 Corinthians 8:7). Grace-filled giving is proportional to love and that is proportional to our gratitude for God's love to us: disturb that cascade and believers love less, give less and fail to grow in grace.